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The Skating Minister by Henry Raeburn, depicting a member of the Edinburgh Skating Club in the 1790s Ice skating was also practiced in China during the Song dynasty, and became popular among the ruling family of the Qing dynasty. In the Netherlands, ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people, as shown in many pictures from Dutch Golden Age painters. The fundamental construction of modern ice skates has stayed largely the same since then, although differing greatly in the details, particularly in the method of binding and the shape and construction of the steel blades. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement. The Dutch added edges to ice skates in the 13th or 14th century. Skates now cut into the ice instead of gliding on top of it. True skating emerged when a steel blade with sharpened edges was used. This was done to save energy during winter journeys. Research suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in southern Finland more than 4,000 years ago. Skating fun by 17th century Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp

Figure skating, ice cross downhill, speed skating, and barrel jumping (a discipline of speed skating), are among the sporting disciplines for individuals. Synchronized skating is a unique artistic team sport derived from figure skating. Ice hockey, bandy, rinkball, and ringette, are team sports played with, respectively, a flat sliding puck, a ball, and a rubber ring.

Various formal sports involving ice skating have emerged since the 19th century. Man-made ice surfaces include ice rinks, ice hockey rinks, bandy fields, ice tracks required for the sport of ice cross downhill, and arenas. Natural ice surfaces used by skaters can accommodate a variety of winter sports which generally require an enclosed area, but are also used by skaters who need ice tracks and trails for distance skating and speed skating. Ice skating may be performed on naturally frozen bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers, and on man-made ice surfaces both indoors and outdoors. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. A postman in Germany during the winter of 1900 (stamp from 1994)